Angst
by DeLucrant
Summary: rating may be a little off, title refers to what it is....(6x9)
1. Default Chapter

A/N:  
  
:D Eternal I don't know who you are, but your review on Revolving Axis had me howling in laughter, in a good way of course :D As to why me and my sis have a thing with hands being slit from thumb to wrist, well, mine is or was slit from tip of thumb to wrist when I went rock jumping and I now have a pretty jagged scar, my sister's also has a scar because she slipped with the exacto knife when she was working on her model kits. :D So ya, we both have our slight obsession with weird scars. So angst will be put up here, and I'll try and update once a week at least, if not, people can bug me all they like until I do update. Also I'm working nightshift 9pm to 4am, so things will be posted at odd hours. And my sister giving this to me, well that's an oddity, lol.  
  
Angst: Chapter 1   
  
Again and again she rammed her head into the wall fruitlessly, followed every time by the ramming of her fists. How had she been so stupid? How could she have possibly believed that he loved her or ever would? There was class between them, rank, and of course partnership, a business relationship. Everything concerning her was a joke to him, a nasty little joke. Who knows who she heard him talking to, it was simply the words that mattered. No, only the words that mattered, and that they were from his mouth. He wasn't known for lying when matters of taste were concerned after all, and to be quite truthful, he'd never said anything contrary to what she'd overheard. Ironic, purely ironic.   
  
"Noin. Me and her lovers?" he let out another howl. "Now that's just rich. Why would I stick myself with such a clingy, weak woman. She follows me all around as it is, its as if she's a puppy dog. If I wanted anything from her I could get it easily, why would I want someone who would bow to my every whim? really just think about it. It would make life boring, let alone annoying, as she already is. Who would want to be married to that thing?"   
  
That's what she had heard from outside the door as she had passed his study just two hours earlier. Lucrezia Noin, she berated herself, you are so dumb and gullible. Look at what you've gone and done to yourself. A fool, you've made yourself into a fool, one of the biggest.   
  
It was time to fix things in her life however. She wouldn't sit around and be made fun of. No, she was a soldier, and she had her dignity and her honor, and most of all her capabilities. She paused in her incessant banging against the wall and looked back at her bed, or what used to be her bed anyway. It was covered with bags, her bags to be precise, bags of things that had nothing to do with him, no memories attached at all. She'd decided to take off, there was no use staying where no one wanted you after all. If Zechs' opinion of her really was that low, she didn't want to stop to ponder what the others must have thought of her. The past three years she had considered them all friends, and it turns out in the all in all, they were just lying to her, making her appear even more the fool. She supposed that was the way it always had been in concern with her.   
  
What a joke she was. There was a degree of self satisfaction in what she was doing now however. Everything Zechs had given her had been blown to pieces, along with any mommentos of him. They were all gone, used for target practice after hearing those startling words muttered from her best friend's mouth. Ex-best-friend now really, if he ever was one at all. She was leaving now though, that was that, and she could regain herself, regain a correct sense of trust, or rather that none should be placed in the human race at all. She sighed slightly, and started to walk, this was it.   
  
All her money was on her, and as she left her room she slung on her leather jacket and her two duffel bags, and that was it, she'd left. She was gone, the wind in her hair, and the betrayal of everyone behind her. She'd see Howard, and get a change of ID, and set about transferring all her bank funds to her new name.   
  
Hours Later Back at the Mansion   
  
"Miliardo Peacecraft, what did you do?" rung throughout the hallways as a loud demanding voice commandeered by Relena Peacecraft made itself known. The shout was repeated incessantly until Zechs opened his study door, popping his out just slightly.   
  
"What is it sister?"   
  
She glowered in return, walked calmly down the hallway and slapped her older brother violently across the face causing him to double take.  
  
"What in the hell was that for?" he bellowed.  
  
"Oh, you know what. Don't you even dare play that game with me. What did you sat to her? what did you do? Tell me now."  
  
The Queen's voice echoed down the hallway causing quite a commotion as others started to gather in the hallway, and her posture made her appear to be very dangerous as she had a wild gleam about her accentuated by the no nonsense stance and glaring eyes.   
  
"I didn't do anything thank-you very much." he answered, peeved.   
  
Relena began to flail her arms about her. "Oh yeah, and Noin just makes a habit out of blowing up everything you gave her, and anything with your face on it into smithereens, than packing up and taking off. She's deals with your nothing all the time. So what did you do?" she demanded.   
  
By now the elder Peacecraft had lost his patience, and especially his temper. "What are you talking about?" he growled in a strained voice, his anger ebbing through rather well.   
  
Relena backed off at the force of her brother's voice. "You mean you really don't know?" she asked timidly.   
  
This game was getting a little old. "Don't know what?"   
  
Relena sadly gestured for him to follow, and still full of fumes, and more than hellishly curious as to what was going on he followed obligingly without words. What he saw upon entrance to the firing range made him cringe, and take a step back before going farther in, and lightly fingering the remains of his gifts towards his best friend, Noin, his secret love. "Why?" was all he could ask. Noin wasn't known for rash behavior. She never acted like this. Something was wrong very wrong, and obviously it had something to do with him.   
  
"I don't know, that's why I asked you." Relena replied impatiently. " You must have said something to her though, because this is mild, you haven't' seen her room yet."   
  
"Do I want to?"   
  
"No, probably not," the young girl replied truthfully, "but you need to. After all, you're the one who knows her the best, maybe you can figure out what went wrong after looking at all this."   
  
Lucrezia Noin's door was fully jar upon arrival, and the far inside wall was covered in splotches of blood, oddly shaped like that of one's knuckles, obviously self abuse. The only reason you ever punched a wall was if you were really mad, or needed to make the pain go elsewhere. Eyes strayed to the floor only to find it covered in shards of glass from picture frames, whose occupants were hacked to pieces as well.  
  
"What did I do?" he muttered softly under his breath, not realizing that his sister had embraced him, and he that he had without full conciousness's consent returned the gesture in his confused state. For indeed he was in need of comfort, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.   
  
"Can you think of something you said or did perhaps?" Relena asked imploringly, looking up at his face to gage a reaction, which never really ever occurred accept on rare occasion. When he didn't respond she simply began to lead him out of the room. The young queen led the way to the lounge and sent for two bottles of Wild Turkey, forcing her brother to drink some after she got him sitting in the hopes of it loosening him up some.  
  
"None of this makes sense."  
  
"Just try and think." 'Because I'd like her back too,' Relena thought. Noin over the years had become a mentor, perhaps even like that of an older sister to her. She didn't want to say good- bye now, or at the very least part without words.  
  
"I can't think."  
  
"Try harder."  
  
"There's simply no explanation for it," he muttered biting his lower lip.  
  
"Yes there is, you just need to think. Could it be something she overheard perhaps?"  
  
The Lightning Count sunk reflexively into the plush chair, and pondered over things until it came to him in the strangest of thoughts. "Marvin. It must be Marvin. He does voice impersonations, rather good really, but his use of it is tasteless, although it seems to get a good riot out of the other guards on most occasions. You see, he gives his opinions on a person close to the one he's imitating. He imitated me earlier for a laugh when all the guards had come in to see what was going on. His words however were very cruel, and I must say I'm pleased they didn't illicit any laughs from the other guards, or they'd all be gone." He hung his head in regret, had she honestly thought he'd say those things, that he would be capable of such ill conceit towards the only one he spoke to.  
  
"Marvin?" Relena repeated dubiously, as though the entire thought was utterly absurd.   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Smooth move," one of the servants muttered sarcastically as he collected the dirty glass Zechs had used, and left.  
  
Relena sneered at the man. "What a nasty person."  
  
"No, not really, just speaking his mind."   
  
"Well yes, but still..." she stammered, for once the princess was at a loss for words.   
  
"Do we know how she left?" he asked, focusing on a distant point on the opposing wall.   
  
Relena shook her head knowing what this would mean. "Her hog."   
  
"Than she's not coming back." he stated flatly.   
  
"She probably feels completely betrayed, like she has not a friend in the world. What exactly did Marvin say."   
  
"Everything the opposite of what is true." he muttered.  
  
"She's lost to us because of Marvin's mimicking abilities." Relena sighed, not quite still believing Noin would leave over such a thing.   
  
"Perhaps we can find her. I know at the very least I'll try."  
  
"We all will, I'll see what I can get for assistance from the others." Rising she patted her brother's arm, and quietly shut the door behind her, and waited silently to see what her brother would do, but she heard no sounds. Perhaps he was simply too cold for his own good. Maybe that was why Noin had left instead.   
  
Zechs shuddered in dry heaves of emotion, until a single tear ran down his cheek. Would he really lose her due to a simple misconception. She'd promised him she'd stay by his side. She'd never broken a promise before. He slunk farther into his chair, uncharacteristically with lax posture. Emotions weren't his specialty, but with all he was, he hoped she'd come to realize what had truly happened quick, or that they would find her. Either would do really, just as long as she was around afterwards.   
  
With Noin  
  
The ride to the spaceport had left her feeling exhilarated, but her butt numb. It had been too long since she had taken a long road trip on her hog. A nice piece of work it was. Her pride and joy. It was a harley, personally transmogrified to fit her personality. She'd done all the work on it herself. She even had a nickname for it too, Blaze. It fit the bike perfectly because it could always leave in a blaze. After all the work she had put into it, she was making sure she brought it with her, so now she waited for Howard to show.   
  
"Nice to see you again, " Howard greeted warmly, approaching her from behind in his normal Hawaiian wear.   
  
"Nice to see you too. Can I hitch a ride with you, while we get my stuff taken care of?"   
  
"Of course. It's always nice to have such a beautiful lady on board. Although I must say, you were lucky we were in town," he added peering over the top of his glasses, catching a glimpse of some bloodied knuckles.   
  
Noin laughed congenially. "What a sense of humor." she joked. "And thank-you for being in town."  
  
"Not a problem." stated. "So what's this I hear about 'friendly troubles'?"  
  
Noin sighed, and resigned herself to explaining her sudden decision to leave the Peacecrafts while they loaded her stuff onto the newly outfitted Peacemillion. The explanation took longer than the loading.  
  
Slowly, and sadly Howard shook his head. "That's a damned pity. I don't know why he'd think of you that way, or the others for that matter. They never seemed to show any dislike of you when you were mentioned or appeared. Figures that. But if it helps, " he added with a big grin, " I like you, and I'm more than willing to give some hometown loving."   
  
Noin laughed slightly, but sobered quickly. "Things change, and I guess I just wasn't up to their standards. I just don't know what I'm going to do now."  
  
"Well, I can give you one suggestion." Howard said tilting his sunglasses down and taking a good look at the woman across from him, who was lost in her coffee. "You run with that bike of yours. You seem to love that thing. Draw on it, make it who you are. We'll set you up as a biker with a record, and it'll be the new you. Find something you like to do, it always makes thing a whole lot more fun."  
  
Lucrezia swirled the coffee stirrer and looked up at him, her eyes still red from the wind and tears of betrayal, easily noticeable by all those who would care. "I do love that bike. Sad thing is, the thing I loved to do most was develop new suits. Despite what they can do, I love those huge mechanical giants, and somehow I don't quite see their uses on military or civilian fields to be gone forever, or even a short while.   
  
"How's this sound then, " he suggested, " you run a biker custom shop during the day, and you can work on your designs at night. And tell you what, I'll even help you build the thing, and test a couple model prototypes. After all, that field is my specialty, maybe an old one, but a good one."   
  
She grinned despite her frazzled state. "I'd like that. It could even be fun."   
  
"I would sure hope so. We'll drop you off at L-2 in a couple of days. I've got a feeling you'll get along just great with the Americans there."  
  
She sat there alone after that, and pondered things over in her head. Never in a million years had she imagined this happening to her. But here it had, and she would be starting all over again. Ironic really. Simply ironic.   
  
At the Peacecrafts  
  
Relena gently took hold of her brother's arm and shook it, urging him to wake.  
  
"I've got them to help, " she said with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye as her brother looked at her through his half lidded eyes.  
  
"That's good," he muttered, "I'll go see what I can do as well."  
  
"No," she said urging him back into the chair, "you get your sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow."   
  
So sleep he did, his body racked with unusual emotion, and it exhausted him, so to do as he was told was very easily accomplished. 


	2. part 2

Angst Chapter 2   
  
Noin looked up and around at the large building before turning around to face Howard.   
  
"Nice isn't it."   
  
She smiled. "It's marvelous. How in the world did you ever find it?"   
  
"A little help from Duo."   
  
She faced him completely. "He won't be a problem, will he?"   
  
"I strongly doubt it, when it comes to women, no offense of course, but Duo doesn't have a good memory. He could sleep with two different women and not know the difference between the two."   
  
Noin just had to laugh at that. "Well I think this will be a good fit than."   
  
"Now I want you to take a closer look at this place. Obviously as you can tell, height wise it's not tall enough to fit a mobile suit, laying down, you might be able to fit one. I strongly suggest building in small scale for the mean time however, and remember, you need to give me a call if you need any creative juices."   
  
She winked. "Of course I will. I think I'll probably wind up selling off the little buggers designs to Une when the mobile suits return in larger numbers, as I'm relatively sure they will. Man isn't known after all for degrading his technological achievements."   
  
Howard nodded and turned to leave. "Have fun, and call me if you need anything, and you're new id, and priors are on the counter."   
  
She waved an off-handed thanks, and with that Howard was gone, leaving her to start anew.   
  
Peacecrafts   
  
"Are we sure she's going to be all right," Quatre asked with concern clearly written over his face.   
  
Duo turned to face the vidphone. "She'll be fine Quat, she's strong willed you know that."   
  
"But still, to hear something so brutal."   
  
"Ya, sorta like you and the zero system, huh." Quatre shuddered. "Listen, we'll continue to work on things, you just work on work. We've got it covered."   
  
"All right, " Quatre muttered, and he hung up, a note of discomfort still in his voice.   
  
"You shouldn't give him false hope."   
  
"What do you mean." Duo asked leaning over Heero's shoulder.   
  
"Noin found me and Heero, Duo. She's an excellent tracker, possesses the skills to find whoever she wants, and therefore, if she knows where to go to find information, she knows what to do to avoid being found."   
  
Duo nodded at Trowa. "That makes sense I suppose."   
  
Two weeks later they still hadn't found anything, and so with annoyed presence they met with Relena.   
  
"Listen, I hate to be a pain in the butt." Duo muttered, receiving glares of you always are from the other pilots. "But this is eating up resources, especially ours. If anything pops up on her, we'll follow up on it no prob, but even though she is a friend, we have other things to do."   
  
Relena glared at him, fingers arched unpleasantly. "Do you agree with him?" she asked the other two. She received silent nods. 'Damn she thought, what am I going to do. Who in the hell is going to tell my brother?' With calculating eyes she watched the pilots and than, at the last minute called Duo back in. "Listen, Duo, could you do me a favor."   
  
Moments later shrieks could be heard, but sitting back in her office, Relena was rather glad it wasn't herself.   
  
Two years later   
  
The answering machine clicked on with an ominous beep as the man standing beside it in the shadows decided to ignore it until he knew who it was. Couldn't be too careful anymore.   
  
"VMM, um Living Death, that is you're name right, " the stuttering voice quivered as it spoke. "My employer, a Mr. Wilson, has a job offer for you." The tall man beside the phone cringed slightly as though he could see the person on the other side of the phone grasping his collar uneasily, as he was a small wiry man unsure of himself. Why was it always the simpering men who made the phone calls, what it supposed to impress him or elicit empathy. Those people always annoyed him, but he continued to listen to the message as the caller spoke anyway. "You see, he's recently gained competition in his industry, and he is looking for you to take the competition out. There's only one problem with the contract you might have if my employer told me your tastes correctly." VMM scoffed, people hiring him, knowing his tastes, ludicrous. He listened as the caller heaved greatly. The shadowed man growled slightly with irritation, maybe the job wasn't worth the wait after all, but than the wiry man spoke. "The target is a woman."   
  
The man's lips curled slightly in an amused smirk, and he picked up the phone, putting it close to his ear, but not so close as that he had to listen to the caller's heavy breathing. "Can I help you ?" he asked mockingly.   
  
Mr Wilson's assistant stuttered in reply. "Yes, um, yes sir. Mr Wilson can pay greatly for your troubles sir."   
  
He shook his head slightly, before responding. "It'd be my pleasure. But put your boss on. I want to talk to him directly."   
  
The other man paused, scared slightly for a minute, but the passing of the phone could be heard on the shadows end so he waited patiently for his not so decent customers.   
  
"Hello VMM. We'll skip the formalities if that's all right with you. I'm offering $100,000 for the head of Guiseppi. Katrina Giuseppi, the bike detailer."   
  
VMM laughed harshly in the shadows, a full laugh of a baritone voice which showed only great amusement in everything, especially life. A bike detailer, what a stupid, novel thing, and yet he'd seen people hire him for stupider reasons. "I'll take care of it signore. Just don't get in my way, and I require a down payment of half the agreement price put in a bank account of my choosing before going any farther." You always had to be wise with money, no? He'd learned that a long time ago, and he still practiced it.   
  
"It's a deal my friend, my brother, call me with the details whenever its convenient for you, and we'll get down to business as soon as possible."   
  
Living Death shook his head slightly, and pulled his collar up around his neck an old habit from another world, but one he rather liked. People were foolish, always so foolish. They never seemed to learn, and they always over estimated someone or something that got their pants in a bunch. It was funny really, that was how he saw things. Life was an amazing game meant to be played as though it was a sport or acted out as thought a script for a theater, he simply liked to perform his role to the best of his work which was what he was doing now. Make money at something he was good at, killing.   
  
"I've gotta say, I think I've gone overboard on this one, It's an absolute beaut, Noin marveled to herself.   
  
Noin stared at the bike, and ran an approving hand over its newly detailed body. A harley, her second one this week, that someone had sent to her to be detailed, and she had to admit it was addictive. If she didn't know any better she'd the things out for a test driver herself, only...the customers would probably get mad at her for that.   
  
L2 had been nice to her and her detailing shop, she'd seen more people in her two years there than she ever would have imagined, and currently she had an apprentice. That idea was just amazing, sure she'd taught before, but this, this was different. She was known through the rings, good and bad alike, as the best detailer to go to. Anything they wanted done, she could do. It had taken her a lot of practice, but she had everything settled out now, except her name.   
  
Howard had given her a new name, a new identity, and she'd taken it without hesitation, and they'd never caught up with her, not a one of them, and she was living in Duo's backyard. She'd even detailed his Dukati for him, not that he knew it. They only knew her as Giuseppi, like the little man from Pinnochio, funny ne? As always she'd used her last name instead of her first, and in doing that gave no clue as to her gender. It came in handy more often than not.   
  
The two years of silence that had ensued after her hearing of a fateful conversation Zechs was having one night had led to a drastic change in her. She was mutely friendly, but she kept the biker's attitude, and not the good one for the most part either. It had become her well, and allowed for her to keep herself quiet, a lot of the people around called her mute, because that was in essence what she was. Motorcycles, and Mechas were her main friends, she didn't trust much in humans anymore. With good reason of course.   
  
Beside a mental change, in the dearly beloved Lieutenant, there were physical changes as well. Almost always her hair was kept shorter than before, unless she missed a cut. She'd chopped it all off, wore it shaved on the side, and long on the top, her trade mark bangs of before had been removed, and her right shoulder sported the tattoo of a face split in half by a sword with one half angelic, one half mischievous. A picture most people misunderstood.   
  
Still admiring her work Noin stood up, and backed away towards her hanger, a large area housing her mobile suits, all of her own design, except for the white Taurus she had constructed based on her previous suit, which had been left behind in Cinq in her haste to leave. After all, a mobile suit was, and isn't an easy thing to hide. In habiting the room was 3 suits, all prototypes, all small. Howard had supplied the tools just as he had promised, and she'd eagerly accepted his help was she was in a jam. She hadn't slept much during the development phases, until the plans were all finished. In fact, at the moment she had other plans stirring in her head, but they'd have to wait. She'd been able to put years worth of thinking into designs that she made come to life. They were small, but an easy site to lose yourself in if you were an admirer, and so she lost herself in them after finishing her 'official' work. She simply lost herself in the miniatures she hoped to make larger, but that at the same time she hoped would not truly be needed.   
  
Zechs sat back warily in the plush chair and rubbed hard at his eyes. It had been a long day, although they always were. A fruitless search for a friend, and a mind numbing amount of paperwork. What more could anyone ask for?   
  
Two years ago he had taken up the upkeeping of Cinq paperwise and the other joys of that sort that the public couldn't see, and didn't need to. His sister Relena tended to the media and political needs, and still retained her job as Vice Foreign Minister in a symbolic way. From the time he'd began he'd regretted his decision. His nature led him to take action, not to sit on his tuft. The fallen prince had promised however, and was making good on it.   
  
It would be easier if Noin was with him though, but she wasn't. He noted often with irony and depressing sentiment that Noin had always been the one better suited for it, even though she detested it, but give her a cause and she was more than willing to fight. That was just one thing great about her.   
  
Things had gone so wrong, he had started helping his sister as a distraction from his mind, lately it hadn't been working, and he'd taken up working at the Preventers as well on a part time basis, and on any assignments others didn't want. It was the only thing that distracted him completely anymore.   
  
Life was odd and humorous, and yet he still couldn't find the humor in it, maybe it was simple black humor. He wasn't like the others, he got dragged down, and he'd used Noin to keep him afloat. He'd been floundering for a while. Somewhere out there she was hiding from him, not that he could blame her after what had been said, he still wanted her back however. Marvin had been fired from his job for several reasons soon after her disappearance, and Zechs had taken true delight in giving him the news. What a happy day that had been, but sadly enough hadn't brought her back.   
  
Someday she'd turn up, he just knew it, she had waited for him, and now it was his turn to wait, and he wasn't about to let her down, not now, not ever again.   
  
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A/N: Hey there. If you have any suggestions send um my way, otherwise, I'm going to work on what I've already got.   
  
Queen of Shadows: I've just got to say this, you are an awesome reviewer, and on top of that you write awesome too. :D Although I think I reviewed your stories under a different name. Also if you would like the last two chapters I've completed, they're yours, I haven't finished this yet, but I do have chapters 11 and 12 done. So if you want them, just email me.  
  
Chibi Noin, and Chibi Tsuki: You guys are great with sticking through reading my stories with all my quirks in it. This time I'm actually spell checking, and yes, I'm retyping all of this. Got rid of all my disk copies, and am left with my hard copy on paper. The offer extends to you guys if you want the last two chapters I've written, so just let me know if you do.   
  
Also, anyone on the ZxN list, don't expect me to post there, nothing ever happens there, its dead. Also, for my own little amusement, I'm revamping my site, fanfiction included. And I plan on doing a little page for zechsxnoin fics all by themselves. 


	3. part 3

Part 3  
  
He stared at the papers gently, and put them down on the rustic table which had been run down from good use, but unless you took careful inspection was in seamlessly perfect condition given its age. He couldn't help but laugh. The woman he was after, she was a fine lady. There was only one thing that bugged him about her, the fact that she seemed to pop out of nowhere, well that and the fact that he was almost positive it was one of his remaining students from his teaching days with OZ. It just didn't seem quite right. A job was a job however, and he'd get the job done. The meeting with Mr. Wilson had gone well, and receiving this file, well that was an oddity; he could assure you of that. Normally people just told him who and where, and left him to do the rest. His employer this time however had run up a sheet on his prey for him. However, if the information was false, it would cost him dearly. Better no information than false information. VMM was now after the designated target, he was the hunter, the predator, and her, well she was the prey. Survival of the fittest, a philosophy he whole heartedly agreed on, yet couldn't figure out how he still hadn't been removed from the crowd yet, surely there must have someone more fit around somewhere, but on that note much more deserved to be gone do to their weaknesses than he.  
  
Oh well, all was dandy. Straightening he pulled the collar of his trench coat up, and put his black woolen cap on. Black, a color, a symbol for depressing, neither personification was or is true. Black is not a color, it is the absence of it, and it does not mean to be depressing, it simply is and does not dictate the wearer's emotions for them. With a quiet strength he opened his door and walked out, shutting it lightly behind him, and headed down the cement steps to the equally gray sidewalk. A colony of steel and cement, the two bases for life in the colonies. Without either life would cease to exist in an orderly manner, in fact, it would cease to exist at all. He shoved his right hand in the corresponding coat pocket. The left one Living Death chose to leave loose to hang by his side. His right hand had sustained serious damage several years back, it had been sliced all the way down to the bone from the tip of his thumb to almost his wrist. The sight of it scared people, therefore he kept it hidden. There was no desire in his eyes to see fear in the eyes of children unlike there was in those for whom he worked. Some things never seemed to change.  
  
He'd take a quick walk round to this Giuseppi's and check the place out; maybe even get some work done on his wheels if time allowed it before another business transaction was finalized. He shrugged slightly at the thought and began to hum, a haunting melodious tune that not many could forget after it was heard.  
  
Trowa stood up silently from his desk in the corner of Catherine's trailer, and with his normally passive features remaining that way walked out without a notice to anyway. He left the circus and found the nearest pay phone, this trouble wasn't something that required him to help out if Preventers played their cards right. He dialed Une's number and waited patiently while the phone rang. "VMM, aka Living Death is active again." Anticipating any questions she would have had he continued to talk. "I don't have confirmation on the target yet, I'm still waiting for it. As of now I can guarantee that he is on L2 however, most likely the location of the target, unfortunately I wasn't able to procure anymore information."  
  
"Nice work," Une said standing softly. "I'll arrange a meeting later on today with our top people, maybe Wind, give him a distraction. Thank-you."  
  
Trowa nodded complacently at the telephone with understanding, turned and returned home, they'd call if they needed him.  
  
Giuseppi raised her head at the sound of the bell's ring to see a man wearing a trench coat walk in, his facial features hidden by the collars of his coat and the shadows provided by his equally black cap.  
  
"Can I help you?" She asked flatly.  
  
"No, just looking. I received a recommendation from an acquaintance of mine. Figured I'd check the place out."  
  
Noin grunted in reply, and turned back to work, keeping an eye on the unusual costumer, noticing that his eye seemed to stray back to her occasionally. Something was very odd about the costumer that had just walked in but she couldn't quite place it. He seemed too stealthy, to self aware, too circumspect, and too familiar. Most people didn't act the way he was unless they were trained to be, and the recognition, somehow it didn't strike her as a good thing, and it was like a day no one ever wanted to remember.  
  
"You have a split face on your shoulder; may I inquire as to why?" VMM asked, turning round to face her, while lifting an appraising hand to some nicely done jackets hanging by the door.   
  
"A bad past."  
  
"Hmmmm." He noted that in his mind, if this was his pupil something had definitely changed her, for the better or for the worse. He appeared to look carelessly around the room once more before exiting the store. The woman was odd. She looked like a man, acted like a man, and carried a somewhat military demeanor, as though she had a lot of experience in battles, and she had kept an eye on him. It meant she didn't trust him, or she recognized him. No matter really. It could all be resolved later, although he knew now his employer had left some gaps in his preys profile, the man would have been better off had he not given him a profile. Things did not please him with this information, and he readily wished he could confirm it as Lucrezia or not.   
  
Noin looked around the shop after the man had left, stood up, and paced slightly before hanging the closed sign out on the door, it was still early, but the man had put her on edge, and it had been a good year or more now since anything had succeeded in doing that. Better to be cautious than foolish and lose everything. Locking the front door she moved towards the back, and yet again back farther until she was with her mobile suit designs, her babies, and of course, her one model. It was a pity she hadn't really finished the others yet, but there was this inkling in the back of her mind that she'd get the time, and probably a crew to help her with it. Things were still quite unsteady, and terrorists, well those were always about. She kept her jitters down as her mind raced, something was up, and she only hoped her astuteness would pay off before something went down.  
  
The Lightning Count rapped his fingers impatiently on the wooden table, not often did he get so impatient, but today his nerves were wearing thin, and still he had not received his call. A call he had been waiting several hours for. At last the phone began to ring, and he picked it up carefully making sure he didn't accidentally bust it from pent up frustration. "Hello."  
  
"Hello to you too wind," Une stated.  
  
Zechs sighed slightly, this had not been the call he was expecting. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"VMM is back in town, I wanted to know if you'd like to join the team on this one."  
  
He stared flatly at the wall for a moment, his anger skyrocketing momentarily before he controlled himself. "Of course."  
  
"All right than, 22 hundred, Berlin, my office. I'll see you there. Bye."   
  
The line disconnected and Zechs sat there staring at the phone for a moment. VMM had previously attempted to assassinate his sister, he hadn't succeeded but the event still had the young man riled. Giving up on the phone call he stood up and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair. He was off for Brussels. For safety reasons Une's position kept her moving all over Earth and the colonies, this week or perhaps month Brussels was where she was at, at least that way his trip would be shorter.  
  
A/N: I think this is still lacking quite a bit, but I'm not quite sure what to do about it, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also thank-you for the reviews. And Chibi Tsuki and Chibi Noin you should have those two chapters by the time you find out this is posted, if you don't, there was a glitch with my email again, so let me know. 


	4. part 4

A/N:Ok, so obviously if you take a look at the previous chapters, you'll notice I left them the way my sister had written them including the author's notes , lol.... They're staying that way, you have suggestions for anything after chapter 3 send it my way. Oh yes, and just a tad bit of a warning, this hasn't been spell checked at all.  
  
VMM took his time strolling around town before returning home, where he needed to make a call. His cap, and coat were carefully placed away as he entered and sat down next to the phone, pausing a moment or so, while he drummed his fingers before picking it up and dialing his employer's number. The assassin's lips curled into a slight smile as the other man's minion picked up the phone.   
  
"You need to double my pay, or there's no deal."  
  
"But, but but..." stuttered the man who stood rooted to the ground, flabergasted at the immediate request.  
  
"Just put him on please." VMM sighed exasperatedly.  
  
The stupified man back away from the phone, limping into the shadows to retrieve Mr. WIlson, who hurriedly shoved the man away, and attempted to calm his voice as he picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello, what can I do for you?"  
  
Living Death sighed, and rolled his eyes. "Double my pay."  
  
"If you don't mind signore, why?"  
  
VMM's face grew cold; he hated dealing with incompetence. "There is only one thing I ever demanded if I was given information a target." He sneered slightly. "Accuracy, and your file monsieur, is anything but accurate. It would have been much much wiser of you not to have given me that file. Stupidity must be paid for."  
  
Mr. Wilson ran a slightly shaky hand through his slicked back ahir, he really didn't want to mess with a man who could pick him off so easily. "I'm sorrry about that sir, really, I am, but I can't double your pay."  
  
"Than no deal."  
  
Mr. Wilson began to sweat slightly. Giuseppi was not someone he culd handle on his own, even with a couple of thugs, even being the chauvinistic pig he was, he knew better than to mess with certain women if it couldn't be done right. "Alright, It's doubled."  
  
"Why thank-you."  
  
Wilson stared at the phone for a moment before slamming it down and turning on his right hand.  
  
"What possible gap could be soooo large to cause him to request so much more money?" he seethed through clenched teeth. "I'm not made of it."  
  
"I don't know sir." stuttered the small man, who exited before his boss could reak havoc on him.  
  
VMM leaned back, and cracked his neck while twisting it in both directions so that the two snaps resounded through the room quickly. Snuggling into his chair he crossed his legs, and grabbed for the book seated beside the telephone. It wasn't a book really, it was a journal, a journal of someone's horrible journey through life, which is probably where journal originated from. It was intriguing, and eerie. For some reason the book, containing an old musty smell, would bring him back to his own past, something that was so like the man's in emotions it was haunting. Very few books that had been produced through the centuries held a power that could make one feel as though it was their own life, and this unpublished one did, if only because it was at one point a reality.  
  
One misconception often made it seemed when dealing with him was that he was uneducated, it was the exact opposite. Formal schooling was never his style, he had run away when he was a child, finding dealing with people of such small intellects annoying. He'd taught himself. A few others had taught him along the way as well, some to kill, others to feel. Each name and lesson was embedded in his mind. One lesson imparticular always stood out the most, look for a challenge in everything you do, Mr. Phillips, had said that, had said to never take the easy way out, to constantly be challenging himself, otherwise it would come back to bite him in the butt. Often in his work there were challenges, but none so hard that he couldn't figure out how to overcome them. Katrina Giuseppi could prove to be a challenge, it pleased him, that fact, after doing something for so long the challenges just seemed to die off.  
  
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Noin rummaged through the back of her coat closet and pulled out a worn leather jacket that concealed a few guns, and walked out the back door of the garage. It probably wasn't a good idea to be leaving at the moment, but somehow, sitting still did nothing to satisfy her nerves either, thefore she left down the backstreets. Something was just so offsetting about the man that had walked in earlier, it made her stomach uneasy. Unfortunately a soldeier's instinct wasn't often wrong. There was always one place she could go for decent information, the bar. To most people perhaps that wouldn't make sense, but people there talked, and talked a lot if you fed them enough liquor or pain. Someone in town had to know something about him, his name, his history, but who knew, if he was like her, than maybe there was nothing.  
  
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Noin stared at the pay phone a moment longer before picking it up, and dialing Zechs' number. An anonymous call couldn't do any harm. She now knew who her man was thanks to a couple of jack daniels, a weak drink in her mind, but it got her informant drunk quick enough. Her customer's name had been VMM, his initals standing for the latin victus mors mortis, aka living death. He was known for several assasinations throughtout the years, yet never caught due to his chamaleon like abilities that could impress almost anyone, even a certain Heero Yuy. This man however, also had a brief interval as a teacher in Oz, a teacher for the sharpshooters, one of her teachers. If her memory served correctly too, ever other person in her class with him was now dead by his hand. There was a reason however she was about to make this specific call. A couple of years prior VMM had taken a shot at Relena Dorlain, luckily Heero had gotten her out of the way in time, taking the bullet himself, but Zechs, as it was with his personality was left with a sense of revenge. While she shouldn't care about the man's vendettas she did, VMM was in her territory, her neighborhood, and no one knew who or what his target was. That in and of itself annoyed her, but it also gave her this inkling feeling, that given past events, she was his target. This ordeal, the man's presence, could make things confusing if too many people found out, or didn't find out. Rumors would spread like wild fire, and than at their height, he'd strike, the sniper would hit his target, and prove the curious correct and enrage the people on.  
  
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Zechs stared at the beeping phone once more with annoyance, he was on his way out to catch the plane, but he picked it up anyway. "Hello"  
  
Noin stared coldly at the phone box, knowing she could no longer stand that voice, yet didn't trust herself to be kind enough to say hello, so instead she answered monotone. "VMM is in east side district 7 or 8 on L2, he has a target yet unconfirmed, I suggest you move quickly." With that she hung up, and turned walking away in a hasty almost marchlike walk. Hopefully the annoying brat would listen to her terse warning.  
  
Zechs on the toher hand stood shocked looking at the phone which dangled halfway between him and the desk. He recognized the voice, one belonging to a Miss Lucrezia Noin, and yet, it was almost as though it was too haunting to be her. What the voice had said however was more haunting, the voice knew where VMM was. He silently thanked a lord, if there was one, for the call, and hoped it wasn't a prank. It certainly hadn't sounded like it. Grabbing his codex his dialed Lady Une, who listened in haste and relayed the details to the people he'd be meeting with soon enough, Berlin was no longer where they were going, but L2. 


End file.
